The conventional, single-serving condiment packet has provided consumers and vendors with many conveniences in terms of portability and portion-control over the years, and for that reason, many restaurants and foodservice operators are loyal to the single-serving packets. However, one of the frustrations of those condiment packets is that there is no easy way for the packet to stand alone without spilling once it is opened, especially for most fluid condiments such as sauces, dressings, syrups, and the like, or small solid particulates, such as sugar, salt, pepper, and the like. Furthermore, for many types of cuisine, the condiment is best experienced when used in only small amounts at a time. Therefore, a user may open the condiment packet but not use all of its contents immediately. Unfortunately, the result is usually undesirable spilling and contamination of the opening of the packet when the packet is placed horizontally.
There has been a long felt need for resolving the weaknesses of the conventional single-serving, condiment packet. However, to the Applicant's knowledge, nobody has attempted to address the problems that consumers face when dealing with opened but unfinished condiment packets. For example, consumers try to place opened but unfinished packets on an unused eating utensil, the plate, or some other structure on the table. But these are commonly knocked off and spilled. Vendors do not appear to be willing to change the packet styles. Most likely because of the enduring popularity and lower manufacturing costs of the single-serving condiment packets, consumers and vendors still overwhelmingly use them over their newer counterparts. Still, there has yet to be an innovative product that would simply and effectively resolve the problem of the single-serving condiment packet's inability to stand to avoid spilling and becoming contaminated.
Current condiment packet holders are designed to hold multiple condiment packets in bulk so that condiments are readily available to customer without having to refill the condiments because vendors want to reduce the amount of time their servers spend refilling the condiment packet holders. Therefore, the dimensions of current condiment packet holders tend to be large enough to hold a plurality of condiment packets within their cavities.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a device that are properly dimensioned to hold a single-serving condiment packet upright in a way that does not contaminate the condiment and keeps the condiment from spilling after it has been opened.